Author chronicles lives of military dogs

Monday

Mar 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMMar 29, 2010 at 11:57 PM

In his new book, self-taught historian Michael Lemish chronicles the loyalty and courage of the "unsung heroes" of the Vietnam War who got no parades when they came home. In his just-published "Forever Forward," the author recounts the service of Lobo, Toby, Nemo, Hans and many of the 4,000 dogs used by American and Allied forces in Vietnam.

Chris Bergeron

In his new book, self-taught historian Michael Lemish chronicles the loyalty and courage of the "unsung heroes" of the Vietnam War who got no parades when they came home.

They never saluted officers, they drooled more than average grunts, and they risked or lost their lives saving an estimated 10,000 Americans.

In his just-published "Forever Forward," the Westborough, Mass., author recounts the service of Lobo, Toby, Nemo, Hans and many of the 4,000 dogs used by American and Allied forces in Vietnam.

Subtitled "K-9 Operations in Vietnam," his 286-page book is published by Schiffer Military History in Atglen, Pa.

During his research phase, Lemish made eight trips to Washington, D.C., and two other states to visit the military museums and archives of each service branch.

Based on extensive research, he has written a factual, readable and comprehensive history of how the U.S. military employed dogs from 1960 to the withdrawal of American forces in 1973.

Throughout the war, he wrote, German shepherds were used as scout dogs "like four-legged radar" to sniff out the enemy or bombs. Sentry and patrol dogs were trained to be aggressive, which made it difficult to find them homes after retirement. And Labrador retrievers worked in five-man teams as trackers for reconnaissance and to follow the scent of fleeing Vietcong.

"I wanted it to be a big book that would reach people," Lemish said, relaxing in his kitchen office. "Things were different then. When the Americans withdrew, 900 dogs were left behind in South Vietnam. Only about 200 military dogs were sent home."

Lemish, who describes himself as "the only military dog historian in the U.S.," also published his first book, "War Dogs: A History of Loyalty and Heroism" in 1996. Published by Potomac Books, it sold out its first edition and has sold 12,000 copies since then.

He works as a field service engineer for PerkinElmer Life Science, which produces analytical instruments for the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

On a quiet Thursday afternoon, Lemish fed treats to Lucy, a friendly 3-year-old German shepherd who "bombed out of bomb school" for the U.S. Air Force because she got jittery after sniffing explosives in training exercises. He adopted Lucy in January from the U.S. Air Force base in Lackland, Texas.

After visitors arrived, the tall, affable Lemish had his hands full calming down Riley, an energetic Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever mix who climbed onto guests to greet them with slobbering kisses. He recently adopted Riley through Petfinder, an organization that finds homes for animals in "kill shelters" where they're typically euthanized after 72 hours.

He got the idea for his first book on war dogs when visiting a local library and not being able to find any information on that subject after 1954.

"I thought, 'Here's a subject that hasn't been beaten to death,"' he said.

Over the next two years, he taught himself to write query letters, hired an agent to help find a publisher and typed out several manuscripts.

"Basically, I learned how to write by doing it," he said. "It was like on-the-job training."

Lemish credited his wife, Susan, a technical writer for Oracle Corp., for proofreading his text and correcting occasional spelling and grammatical errors.

As a result of contacts he made, he's now involved with some organizations he wrote about that honor the dogs' service and find them good homes after they can't work. He's the official historian of the Vietnam Dog Handler Association, a board member for the Florida Space Coast War Dog Association and has worked as a researcher for the History Channel, BBC and PBS.

With two history books about dogs behind him, Lemish plans to change direction and write a children's book, a novel and a screenplay about humans.

But he expects dogs will appear, one way or another, in them.

Asked about balancing his full-time job with the demands of writing fiction, Lemish laughed and said, "My wife doesn't need a starving writer at home."

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